1999 Gina Rewind
by Mishka Fogolin
Summary: Just as the title states. I am taking the 1999 storyline, from the scene where Gina pitched up in the red dress at Tuscany, and changing it to suite me.
1. History and author's note

**Fanfic name: 1999 Gina rewind**

Summary: Just as the title states. I am taking the 1999 storyline, from the scene where Gina pitched up in the red dress at Tuscany, and changing it to suite me. There are so many times that I feel like just shaking Gina, wanting to tell her, "If you want him, have him chase you instead!"

Before I commence with my take, I need to just add some history to refresh everyone's memories, since we are going back 1999... I have to warn you all though, if you are looking for the usual Bope ending, you won't find it here.

Another word of warning: This is Days... and every couple and/or character have a complicated back story, therefor, prepare for really long run-on sentences, just to put you back in the storyline/s...

**History**

In Dec 1998, with Stefano's plan in full swing, to turn Hope back into our fun-loving Princess, Bo and Hope are in the best place they have been in months. Finally together...

**Rewind**

**This is the history of how long they were not together…..**

**In 1997** Hope and John goes to a jungle compound with Stefano and Kristen, as Stefano was finally caught, arrested, booked and everyone thought the phoenix had finally burned itself out…. Until he cut a deal with the DA – all charges dropped if he could supply a cure for Roman, who is at death's door, after Kristen brought him back, just in time to stop John and Marlena's fairytale wedding.

The reason Hope joined John on this quest? (Apart from her legendary stubborn streak) Her relationship with Bo was just about non-existent, due to Franco Kelly's interference, paid by Kate, to mess up Bope in order for Billy to get her man.

At the same time Hope and John are fighting for Roman's (and their own) lives, Bo and Billy are undercover in Rome. As Days storylines go, Bo and Billy have to marry in order to please JL King, the Mob boss they are trying to catch. This is a marriage in name only – unfortunately Hope did not know this, and while she is out of Salem, saving lives, Kate convinces Bo that Hope left town for a romantic getaway with Franco. Of course, that completely breaks his heart, and he immediately decides to heal his heart by consummating his marriage to Billy.

Let's do some soap math: 1 + 1 = 3….. And baby Georgia is 'planted'.By the time Hope and John get back to Salem, Billy is very preggers, Bo finds out he was an idiot and Hope decided to leave them alone for the baby's sake and rather concentrate on finding out all the interesting things she was up to during her missing hears from 1990 - 1994… And so we get to the intro to the whole Princess Gina storyline….

**1998.** Celeste, who looked after Hope at Maison Blanche while she was between personalities, and re- appeared in Days in 1994, very conveniently decides that now is the perfect time to send her some of the possessions Gina used to have at Maison Blanche…

And with the arrival of this box, containing a silver comb, a silver compact mirror and a tube of lipstick in a beautiful box, we start moving in the PG direction… (Princess Gina as opposed to parental guidance… although with the "spine shattering sex on a sub marine" scenes that followed a little later, some people might disagree. PS. John's words, not mine.)

Bo, still very much in love with his fancy face, but bound to Billy, wants to help with the search, stubborn Hope wants to do it on her own…. Yet, since they are a Days super couple, Bo is always around, and he is with Hope as she decides to question that doctor that supposedly fixed her "burned beyond recognition" face, and hears from another patient about the Bayou Dugar… apparently a place she insisted she needed to go back to. After one alone visit, when she was thrown out by the two hillbilly's livin' there, Whayne and Earl, Bo followed her to make sure she is safe, they go back to the Bayou and they get stuck there over night.

And the 'so important 'silver compact gets stolen by the swamp girl, living there…

Of course, Billy follows to make sure Bo is safe as well, from Hope that is. She misses them, ends up going into labor, loses the baby, she calls "Georgia" after finding Hope/Gina's compact with the G on… (this is the same alive and well teenager Chelsea that pitched up years later) and then she frames Hope to look like the stress and a fight they had at Salem place upon her return to Salem, caused her to lose the baby….

Ok, so again, Bo and Hope are at odds and she is operating alone. John comforts her as she explains about how Billy losing her baby is all her fault, and unknowingly opens Pandora's box, as he produces a photo him and Marlena found in the ashes of Maison Blanche, just to cheer her up. It is an ooooooooooooooooooold photo, of Hope, in oooooooooooooold clothes, in front of a house, looking not a day younger than today…. If this was vampire diaries, I could explain that, but since it's Days, we go doppelgangers over the vampire explanation…

SPAM Ok… if you want to know the full story on that stupid silver compact of Gina's go to my youtube channel (/laprinsipessa) and you'll find two video's trying to fit the whole compact story into just the two vids… END SPAM

So since said compact is MIA in the Bayou, we move onto the comb that came with it, somehow it accidentally broke and a name of a shop where it was bought is found. John decides to accompany Hope to Lugano, Switzerland – (yep same place he went to for rehabilitation when he left the last time in a wheel chair… Wonder if the writers ever picked that up?) anyway, they go to the shop, a housekeepers sees them, they find out that the comb was originally her madam's, and they pitched up at said lady's House (the same house in the ooooooooooooooold picture)…. They ring the bell, and the lady answers, before they can introduce themselves, the lady (Mrs. Lily Faversham) throws her arms around Hope, calling her Gina….. (This summary would make a pretty awesome yt video…. I should go make one.)

Lily tells them that Gina is a Princess, that she had one great love, was like a daughter to Lily and enjoyed balls and baccarat. She takes out a photo of Gina at a ball, and in the background they see John, dressed as a priest, sporting a beard…. So John was somehow involved with Gina….

Bo decides to go back to the Bayou, as he still wants to help Hope, to Billy's consternation, and ends up taming the wild swamp girl, takes her back to Salem, learns that she is Greta, Princess Gina's daughter and that she was actually the one scarred in the acid, not Hope….

John returns to Salem, Hope stays behind to go on the empress express train ride with Lily on the way to some or other royal ball. She immerses herself in Gina's life, and runs into Rudolfo Miradi, aka Stefano. When the train derails, since Stefano wants to prevent Hope from getting to the place where the ball is being held, he saves her, she finds it strange; we don't, since we know he has decided that he can use her again. As Gina…

Hope returns to Salem and Billy's little secret about Georgia is revealed and the happy couple finally re-unite.

** okay, so we are back to Dec 1998**

Since Stefano wants to turn Hope back into Gina, he needs Hope to stay put in Salem, and to prevent Bo from taking her away, he kidnaps their son Shawn D (Yeah, he only dropped the D after being SORASed to a teen, about six months later)…

It works and Hope stays in town, fretting, and getting memory flashes, knowing things only Gina could've known about Greta's life and playing songs on a piano she has never been able to play before. Lily pay the ransom, and just before they leave Salem (we are now in **Jan 1999),** Hope goes over to Lily's to thank her before they leave. This is of course the night Steffi's satellite is in orbit and ready to beam Gina back to the front of Hope's mind…..

While at Lily's, Hope remembers, being an art thief and forger for Steffi, stealing Lily's paintings. She recovers a photo of herself on Stefano's lap in one of Lily's old art books, and freaks out, and goes out into a blizzard to get to Bo as soon as possible, so she can tell him all about Stefano's illegal operations and stuff.

On the way, her car skids off the road, while the transformation is supposed to be taking place, the blizzard could interfere with the transmission, so no-one really knows if Hope or Gina will be the one waking up in the hospital.

She wakes ups, tells Stefano to take a hike when Bo brings her past to take her home, then later slaps Bo when asks her to marry him. Something is definitely off.

Later that evening she goes to Stefano, tells him that she remembers everything, and will expose him, then collapses in a fit of laughter, when he tries to wring her neck. Gina is back! We see a completely different woman, with a really sharp wit, no thought for the commoners and somewhat of a narcissist.

This version of Hope is fun, to watch and write for.

Anyway, over the next couple of episodes we learn that John was the big love of Gina's life, and he has a shock when Marlena hypnotizes him in Greta's hospital room and he remembers Princess Gina teaching him to dance, then… a moment… a long, hold-your-breath – can't take my eyes off of you moment, mercifully broken by Greta applauding their efforts. .

He is confused, he thought he was a priest before, but now… and he wonders if the memory real, or just an over active imagination spiked by Greta's telling of her own perspective as a child. The audience has seen Gina's point of view, we know it is the truth, we know that there is a lot more to this, but we are all still wondering where this will lead.

Gina, determined to make John remember, has a replica of the dress made, and decides to wear it to Tuscany the night they all go to celebrate Greta's release from hospital. This is where my story will start from, as I am changing Gina's tactics. Her way was too…. Obvious, to everyone else.

Devilish smile…..

Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Gina looks into the mirror as she tucks a stray strand back into the elaborate up style complementing the really wide Princess style dress she has donned for the night. She smiles, a little naughty, a little excited smile, as she wonders what this night may bring.

"Tonight could be the night that you remember me John…" she gives an excited squeal as she plays with the notion in her mind. Yes, she may be girly, but our Princess can also be cool and calculating, with no remorse.

She steps closer to the mirror, applying her make-up, and when she is done, an angry frown plays over her features. She is feeling very frustrated as she still has not found her compact, and not just because fixing her make-up has now been complicated. If she can find it, it could be the key to unlocking John's memory.

She sighs, squares her shoulders, and looks in the mirror again.

"The dress will have to do, for now."

* * *

><p>"Oh, Greta, honey, you look so much like your mother!" Lily Faversham exclaims, tearfully in her British accent as she takes both Greta's hands before the two hug.<p>

John and Bo exchange a smile as they hear Greta's muffled: "Stop you are going to make me ruin my make-up" and a sniff as she pulls back, trying to get her emotions under control.

Marlena joins them smiling, and as John pulls out a chair for her, they all sit down.

"So, Greta, remember to save me a dance once all the young ones get hold of you." Bo says.

Greta blushes and looks over at John.

"What? You are beautiful, no scars, no reason to hide…" John leans forward and takes her hand in his, before he continues "… No more hiding for you."

Greta smiles, her eyes looking a tad bit teary again.

Marlena's eyes narrow, she is still not sure if this girl can be trusted… With Stefano around you never know…

* * *

><p>Outside the door at Tuscany, Gina takes a deep breath, squares her shoulders, though just before entering, she hears Stefano's voice again… "You must stay away from Greta and John, they may be able to pick up that you are not Hope. Promise me Gina…" Then she squares her shoulders again.<p>

"I will reclaim my life Steffi, and not you or anyone else can stop me."

Getting her explanation for the elaborate outfit, ready in her mind, and promising herself that she will not show John any of the emotions she feels, she steps through the door. She want him to remember, and come back to her, not run off when he realizes that he was, well, quite the bad boy before Stefano decided to give him his… current… personality…. Because of that, she cannot chase him, he has to come to her. He has to be the one to give in to the past.

* * *

><p>"Thank you Father John." Greta responds, then a commotion at the door pulls her attention that side. Her eyes widen.<p>

"Oh my…. Mother?"

At her words the entire table turn or look up to see what she is looking at. There, in the door, is… Hope, intellectually they know that, but it looks like Gina instead. The tension around the table is so thick you can cut it with a knife…. But of course every one forgot about Lily who only looks up now, due to her bad hearing, and general scatter-brainedness.

"Oh, how lovely! Gina's dress did come out beautifully, even with the little time that nice dressmaker had to make it."

Bo and Marlena, who is sitting with her back to the door and had turned back around, exchange a worried glance…. It is like she can read his mind, as she hears his earlier words… "She is acting out of character, it's like Gina is taking over her life… I don't want to lose her Marlena." Then, slightly worried she glances at John, who's face is turned away from her, so she cannot see the expression, as he is still turned in his seat, staring at the door…

John is in another time and place. As he turned around, and looked up, first he noticed the dress, before even looking at her face, he knew what her make-up and hair would look like. And again, he remembers the feel of her dress against him as they waltz, he remembers the beat his heart skipped as they made eye contact, and he can feel that intense excitement he was feeling at the time. The promise of more to come…. And yet he was dressed as a priest. How could he break his vows to the church, to God? Back in the present, he looks at the intricate patterns on her dress. The patterns are identical. Where did she get that dress, is it the same one Gina wore in his memory? It has to be, if it isn't and she had it made… his breath catches in his throat, then it means she remembers that dress, whether she remembers wearing it, or only the design is locked in her mind, it doesn't matter. That is worrisome, because those memories aren't Hope's from the 90's, those are from much earlier, long before he arrived in Salem, that was when he was… friends… with the real Princess Gina….

* * *

><p>Thanking the maître d' and turning to find the table, Gina sees Bo and Marlena in a furious discussion. It has to be about her, no doubt. Gina sighs under her breath, thinking.<p>

"Why can't they just leave me be? Hope is gone, and I for one wish they went with her."

Then she looks at Lily, who looks just like always, and the empty seat next to her… Greta's seat? Gina feels a slight pang of guilt, something very foreign to her, except when it comes to her daughter. She was so dead set on making John remember, she forgot that Greta will be reminded of the mother she thinks dead, as well.

Then, steadying her breath, she forces herself to look at John, a little weary of what he may read in her own eyes, and a little scared that he will be completely unaffected. Perhaps the hypnoses session really wasn't a success; perhaps he wasn't just acting like it didn't work. Then, finally, she locks eyes on him, and she knows, with complete certainty: He remembers. John is visibly pale and his eyes are tracing the patterns on her dress with an intense gaze, while a myriad of emotions flash across his eyes.

Suddenly, he looks up, and their eyes lock, Gina can feel breathing becoming increasingly difficult, but somewhere, deep in a mind trained for calculation and scheming, by the best master himself, she realizes that she cannot stand there gawking at him, she must act like she has no idea what he is thinking. So smiles at him, as if it is just another normal day, and turns to the man who had just taken her coat, to thank him the same as the maître d'… with a nod, and a smile.

* * *

><p>John takes a shaky breath, as she smiles and looks away. He remembers that smile, the quirk of the eyebrow, the slight tilt to the one side. That was a Gina smile, Hope never smiled like that, and the way she nods at the maitre d' and the man taking her coat, that is Gina as well… He rubs over his jaw, and forces himself to turn back around, facing the table. Next to him, Bo and Marlena is furiously whispering about getting their Hope back, and not allowing the search for her past to destroy her future…. John sighs as he realizes that that is his own fear… He can't go running after Hope and throw away the amazing family he has, just because of really intense memories of the past.<p>

Hope joins them at the table, taking a seat between Bo and Marlena, after having a slight battle with the wide dress.

"Are you sure that dress will fit?" Bo asks, irritably.

Gina groans inwardly, she knows he is angry because she's not acting like old Hopey-dopey…. Then, realizes, that she will have to act at least a little like her, if she doesn't want to arouse suspicion and send John running in a different direction. She still needs him to think of her as a confidant, how else would she be able to place the seeds of bigger ideas in his mind?

She shrugs, and looks at Bo, smiling a little.

"Well, I hope so… I didn't really think that far ahead."

John sits forward, and asks:

"So why wear… that dress?" Gina notices the slight hesitation, and also picks up from Marlena's expression that she picked it up as well. She had gotten her story straight before she came…

She shrugs…

"I thought it would help me remember my past… I had a…a flash. I was standing in front of a mirror, wearing a red dress, my hair made up, I was ready for some kind of party. Then I was descending a very elaborate stair case…."

"and then?" John's voice sounds like he can't breathe.

She shrugs again.

"And then, nothing… when I started drawing the dress for the dress maker, somehow, all the detail was there, coming from my pencil…"

John looks visibly paler… as Greta joins them, John gets up, and walks out.

Marlena waits 2 beats, then goes after him.

"Greta, you really do look great." Gina says, her heart bursting at the joy of her daughter, yet trying to act like Hope.

"Thank you… Hope." It is clear that Greta was about to use another name for her… The champagne arrives, and Bo decides that if he acts like everything is great, hopefully it will be…

* * *

><p>Outside on the terrace, Marlena touches John's shoulder…<p>

"Honey? What's wrong? You want to talk about it…"

John sighs… "Doc, not now. We can talk when we get home. It's Greta's evening, let's not spoil it…"

"Ok…" Marlena turns to leave, waiting for him to join her.

"You go on, I'm coming now, I just saw a business contact of mine that I want to greet." Marlena doesn't look convinced, but goes back inside anyways.

"That is not Hope's memory. That. Is. Not. Hope's. memory." He breathes. His mind is reeling with the implications. Possible implications. Perhaps she really isn't Hope, perhaps, she is, but was programmed, perhaps Stefano is messing with their heads again, perhaps she really could help him remember, but at what cost?


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Inside, Gina returns from freshening up (or rather taking some time to think on her plans for the rest of the evening) and notices that Bo and Marlena and Lily are celebrating, and Greta is looking at the door, waiting for the only father-figure she had ever known, to return.

"Are we toasting to Greta?" she asks, eyeing her chair as she contemplates getting back in there with the wide dress.

"Yep." Bo pops the 'p', then rolls his eyes, "as soon as John gets back."

Gina looks up as if she didn't realize his chair was empty.

"Well. Where is he?"

"Outside." Marlena gestures towards the door "Chatting to a business colleague."

Gina looks over at the entrance, contemplating if perhaps going out to fetch him, might be a good excuse to just be with him a little. On the other hand perhaps it may look strange, if _she _fetches him. She eyes the dress and the chair again, and shakes her head.

"Once I get back in that seat with this dress, I am not battling my way out of it again, so I'm fetching him, it's Greta's night, not a work convention." She throws over her shoulder, walking determinedly to the door.

* * *

><p>"John?" Gina asks as she rounds the entrance.<p>

John closes his eyes, then opens them again. He has his back to her, and from here, without looking at her, he can still hear Gina's voice, Gina's intonation of his name. Hope never used to say his name like that, yet in that one memory, Gina did. Does she know anything about that? It's like she is messing with his mind, making him see or hear things that isn't real. He shakes his head again, confusion making him feel helpless, and the helplessness making him feel angry at himself for the way he is handling the situation and then, as she says his name again in Gina's so seductive way, suddenly the anger boils over, and he swings around to face her.

"What is the meaning of all this?" he hisses "Why are you wearing that dress? Acting like…. _Her?" _

Gina looks completely taken aback, then realizes: "Ah! I must've struck a nerve!" She decides innocent and ignorant won't cut it, indignant will have to do.

"I told you already, out of all the people in the world, I would've expected you to understand the lengths I would go to, not only to get my memory back, but to put Stefano in jail with that knowledge!"

"Fine… That explains the dress…" as Gina spoke she moved closer, throwing her hands into the air, by the time John is hissing back at her, they are face-to-face, as he continues, he grabs her by the shoulders, "…but what about your behavior?"

"My behavior?" she echo's, a genuine surprise in her eyes. Firstly, she thought she was doing a pretty good job acting and talking like Hope, and secondly, how the hell does he know what Gina would sound like? What exactly does he remember? They are so close that she can feel his breath on her lips, she can count the specks in his angry-confused eyes. He draws back a bit as he sees the surprise, then realizes what he said, that someone now knows, he knows, what Gina acted like.

He turns away, all the anger drained out of him, feeling very tired. He leans onto the ledge in front of him.

Gina joins him, puts her hand on his shoulder, and draws close to whisper in a pleading voice…

"John…" definitely Gina's voice, he shakes his head… "Something is freaking you out, what is going on? please, John, you have to tell me."

He turns his head to her side, looking at her, and gets a memory flash, of himself and Gina, holding each other on a balcony, him breathing in her scent and her fingers tangling in his hair. No kissing or anything like that, and yet his heart is racing for first place. As he comes back to the present, he shakes his head, and pulls away from her.

"I'm going nuts." Is the growl she gets in answer to her question as he goes back inside…

* * *

><p>After toasting Greta's release from the hospital, and her new life in Salem, the party is in full swing. Gina is a little quiet as the conversation goes round, not wanting to slip up and tell them anything that is not part of Hope's life. She is enjoying the conversation, though, and also enjoy watching John look normal, and not so tortured any more.<p>

"Fancy Face?" Bo leans over, "You're a bit quiet tonight."

She smiles at him, then decides changing the subject is probably safer…

"Aren't we going to dance tonight?"

He smiles back, holds out his hand, and they go onto the dance floor…

John quirks an eyebrow at Marlena, holding out his hand and they too go onto the dance floor. Soon Greta is also dancing with a young man.

After three songs, and no talking, because that is the way Gina wants it, she excuses herself to go to the bathroom, on the way she notices a sign in the hallway. "orchestra door". She stops for two beats, looks to see if anyone is watching, then enters the door.

"Let's see how much you really remember, John…"

* * *

><p>When she gets back Bo is dancing with Marlena, and Greta with John.<p>

Gina smiles as she watches them. Greta really does think of him as a father, it shows in everything she does and says. Then, with pain, she thinks back to the time that she had to break the news to Greta that "Father John" had to go back to the states. It broke her little heart. Damn you, Steffi…

The song comes to an end, and Bo and Marlena turn to have a chat with Micky and Maggie, Gina walks closer, seeing as she very nearly blew her cover a couple of times that night, and need to start acting as Hope would've done. As she approaches them, a young man asks Greta to dance, and she looks over as John answers the lad.

"Look after her; she's like a daughter to me."

Greta smiles happily as the man takes her onto the dance floor, and John moves out of the way, and ends up standing next to Gina. As she watches her daughter, she nearly forgets the rest of her plan, whispering almost to herself.

"She looks so happy." She starts as John whispers back, his eyes on the young couple

"She'll have many more nights like this."

She looks over to him and smiles, he smiles back, holding out his hand.

"Dance?"

Then she remembers her plan, and realizes this song is almost over. Perfect, the song she asked for will be played next.

She smiles, and takes his hand.

"Why not? Perhaps it is time I start living in the present again."

They start swaying to the music, and then John pulls back to look at her.

"I'm sorry about earlier."

"Don't worry about it… I get those same mood swings when I have flashes."

"Yeah….." John agrees, not sounding convinced at all. He's pretty sure, he crossed the line, taking out his frustrations on her. "But you really are acting different, you know, even your accent, your posture…"

Gina lifts an eyebrow, as she realizes how much he does notice, and how well he knows her, even if it isn't consciously, then she shrugs.

"Well, the posture I can blame on the dress, the accent….I don't know, but it does happen from time to time, Lily says she can see me going from one personality to the next and back again, just in the way I hold my head…." The song comes to an end, and since Gina doesn't want them to leave the dance floor before the Strauss Waltz starts, she stays, stands and continues the conversation…. "I can't keep questioning it, John, if I do I'll go crazy.. What if…? " she doesn't continue the thought as the orchestra starts playing the Waltz.

John freezes to the spot, then Gina decides to initiate the conversation, silently thanking Hope for the months she carried on about the waltz she had been hearing in her head. The fact that she never connected it with John's presence is surprising.

She slaps lightly on his arm, as if she is trying to get his attention.

"It's the Waltz." She exclaims, waiting for John to come back to the present. John was remembering the night she taught him to Waltz, on this very same song… He looks at her strangely, thinking that she is referring to the memory he just had. Does she remember that?

"What?"

"The Waltz, John, the one I keep hearing in my head."

"Oh right… I remember you were going through cd's to find it as well, to identify it…" he relaxes a bit.

Then she laughs, "I think we had better dance, we are standing in the middle of the dance floor."

"I don't waltz." John states flatly, even though he knows he has never been able to, he remembers waltzing with Gina. The confusion threatens to consume him again.

"Oh, John…" Gina takes his hand and places it in her side. "Everyone can waltz, I'll teach you." He nearly pulls back, this is getting dangerous… She takes his hand… "You are supposed to lead, and I follow… well, first I am supposed to curtsy, but that may look strange in Tuscany…" John remembers her low-low curtsy from that night so many nights ago. "And since you are leading you should keep count…"

" 1,2,3…1,2,3… I know." John interrupts.

"Well, then, if you know how…"

"I don't really…." They start moving slowly until he gets the hang of it, and they start clearing the floor

"Well, well, John, for someone who cannot dance, you can clear a dance floor…" she comments, smiling a bonifide-naughty-Gina smile up at him.

He grins, shrugs…

"I really don't… in this lifetime." They go around another turn, becoming more expressive… "But I do remember Gina teaching me."

Gina is beaming, enjoying the dance, enjoying the confirmation that he does remember something, and enjoying just being herself, not acting like Hope.

When the music stops, they stop in a flourish, that has them breathing over each other's faces. Gina looks up, and their eyes lock, and John gets that same jolt he got in the memory, and sees it mirrored in her eyes.

In the memory Greta's applause is what saved them from… well, they would never know, and this time it is the applause in the restaurant. As she looks over at the table, she sees Bo and Marlena looking a little surprised, but Greta's face is ashen, she looks like she will faint any minute. In that moment, Gina runs off, just in time to scream Greta's name, and alert Bo to catch her before she meets the floor.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N**

** I added a little of Greta's reactions in the last chapter, as I felt that the show didn't do her emotional reactions to Hope justice...**

**Chapter 3**

"John? Talk to me." Marlena begs as they enter the penthouse

"About what, Doc?"

"Tonight, everything… I don't know what. You were acting really strangely, you looked pale, you… is that the same dress Gina wore in that memory you had at the hospital?"

John looks up, quirks an eyebrow and rubs over his jaw…

Marlena waits patiently for an answer.

John sighs, then answers.

"Yes."

"Well, then how does Hope…."

"I don't know Doc… It's been a long night, I'm going to bed."

"John, wait." John turns around, one foot on the bottom step.

"We have to figure this out."

"I know." He says, then proceeds up the stairs.

Marlena stares after him. Why does she feel like this is just the start of a very difficult time?

* * *

><p>The following morning, Gina drags herself out of bed at Mrs. H's and zombie her way to the shower, and emerges refreshed, drying and straightening her hair, and dressing in something a little too stylish for Hope.<p>

When she is done, she checks the time to see it is only 7am, checks the mirror to make sure that her hair and make-up is flawless, smiles in a satisfied manner, then grimaces as she makes her way downstairs, to go through to the townhouse basement so she can finish up as much as possible of Stefano's stupid paintings.

"Just keep reminding yourself, that if it wasn't for those stupid paintings, you wouldn't be here." She mutters under her breath, trying to muster up some motivation to go do the forgeries, hoping inspiration will follow.

* * *

><p>"Ah! Gina! I am a very happy man this morning, seeing you working so hard." Stefano booms, entering the basement of Vivian's townhouse.<p>

"Did I ever disappoint you, Steffi?" Gina asks, with a pout, before sitting forward, touching her brush to the canvass again.

"No, but this time around you seem a little… distracted." Stefano stands behind her, and massages Gina's shoulders as she sits back for him to survey her work.

"Oh, how so?" she inquires, arching an eyebrow.

Stefano's pressure on her shoulders increase to a painful level, and Gina knows that somehow, she had been busted.

"I saw the spectacle you and John made at Tuscany last night."

"Spectacle?" she inquires again, forcing her voice to stay calm and even.

Stefano drops his hands and rounds her like a predator, growling:

"Yes, Gina, spectacle. What were you thinking? The dress, waltzing with John in the middle of Tuscany, calling all the attention to yourself in that ridiculous getup! Did I not expressly tell you to stay away from John and Greta!"

"Yes, Stefano." Gina flies up from the chair, brush still in hand, "You, in your infinite wisdom, expect me to play Hopey-dopey for all the people in Salem, yet I am supposed to avoid contact with the people closest to her. How on earth…"

"But you weren't playing Hope last night! That getup of yours is grossly out-of-place in Salem's mediocre social scene!"

"Yes, well…" Gina elegantly plops back into her chair… "It did serve its purpose." Pout.

"What purpose Gina? Greta fainted! On some level she knows her mother is back."

Gina sighs, then takes her, let-me-explain-this-to-you-as-if-you-were-a-child voice.

"Hope has been carrying on and on and on for months about how she is searching for the secrets of her past, and Bo was getting suspicious since I haven't exactly been… keen on helping him with the search, avoiding him at every turn, as he puts it. I couldn't get out of the dinner last night, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone."

"Oh? Carry on." Stefano doesn't look half way convinced.

"I had to stop acting like I am avoiding all things about my past…. So Hope had donned the dress in an effort to spark her memory." She stands up and walks over to him, stops centimeters away from him, and rests her palms on his chest, looking up at him with a pout.

"What do you want me to do, Steffi? I had to do damage control. I am forever down here painting, Bo doesn't know why I am suddenly never available when he is looking for me…" she peers up at him, seeing his face soften in an indulgent smile, and realizes with satisfaction that she has him exactly where she wants him, as usual.

Stefano puts his hands on her shoulders, this time in a much more intimate and less threatening manner.

"Fine, Gina, you're off the hook, this time, but be more… subtle, next time, okay?"

She smiles up at him, a little flirtatiously.

"Off course." She turns away from him and get back into her seat in front of the canvass, then smirks up at him… "After all, you _know_ I am the best at _everything_ I do…"

The she waves him off.

"Now go, attend to your dying wife or something, I have work to do, and my boss can be a real slave driver."

Stefano chuckles as he greets her and leaves. Gina looks at the door, after it closes behind him, her eyes narrowed.

"The minute I get these paintings done, somehow I will leave here, and go back to Europe, _with_ John and Greta." She hisses.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

John sips his coffee, watching the people walking by. He is sitting at Java Café. He had an early meeting with one of his suppliers that morning, and afterwards had to get out of the office since he just couldn't concentrate. Eventually he gave up, and came here. It's not like any of his many companies needs him to be around, that is for the MD's he hired to worry about.

He sighs, as he thinks over the previous night's events, feeling the confusion threatening to overwhelm him again. These memories are doing nothing to help him. It has absolutely no information on what he did for Stefano, nothing he can use to make their lives better, the only thing these two memories can do, is create trouble, when you get down to it. Things are strained between him and Marlena, since he is still trying to make sense of his memories before talking to her and Bo and Hope seems to have drifted so far apart… With a sad grimace he wonders if Dimera is going to end up destroying their lives again, and this time without lifting a finger. Perhaps he wants them to remember, and is just acting as if he doesn't, just to make them fight more. Maybe he knows what affect these memories could have on them?

"John?" Gina's voice, he registers, and then silently wonders if she has _any_ idea at all that she is saying his name different from before. He looks up, to see her standing across his table, looking concerned.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" he sighs, and then remembers the flash he had the night before, of him and Gina, holding each other on a balcony.

"Are you sure?" she asks, again, as she sits down, ordering her tea. With lemon.

John gets another flash, of Gina, at a street café, possibly in France, ordering " tea, with lemon, s'il vous plait " He blinks, still staring at her. Gina looks up, arching an eyebrow questioningly.

"Just say it."

"Since when do you drink tea with lemon?"

Gina shrugs.

"Since it seemed like a good idea. I don't know, I just felt like it."

"Gina used to drink tea, with Lemon." He says, almost challengingly.

Gina narrows her eyes, looking a little shocked.

"Another hypnoses session?"

"No, just you. You look just like her. If I didn't know any better…"

"Surely there must be some small difference."

"Her make-up was darker, her lipstick more red."

Gina laughs.

"Oh, John! That is because back then, _everyone_ wore red lipstick!"

"G…" He nearly calls her Gina, " Do you think maybe Stefano could be feeding me these memories? Trying to mess with my mind? How can two people look so much alike?"

Gina sighs inwardly, she wants him to remember their love, without reservations on whether Stefano is behind it. Besides, nothing could be further from the truth, he would have a coronary if he had any idea what she was up to.

"I doubt it… The last time I told him that I am working on remembering those days, he looked like he was going to get in the services of a hit man. John…" Gina stops, biting her bottom lip, as if she is thinking whether she should speak, or not. She waits long enough for him to catch on, sit forward and encourage her to talk…

"When Gina taught you to dance, that was in the eighties, I was in Salem, getting to know Bo, getting married, having Shawn D…" she pauses, then delivers the last part in a rush: "I remember teaching you to dance."

John stares at her dumbfounded, and then asks, hopefully:

"Power of suggestion?"

"Tell me yours, I'll tell you mine?" she jokes, "see if it corresponds?"

John sits back, feeling like he is balancing on the edge of a cliff.

"If it does, what will that mean? How will it affect their lives?" he wonders, shivering. Then he hears his own voice, as he starts talking before he really came to a decision.

"At first I really battled, Greta was enjoying the show when I nearly took you… I mean, Gina down with me, stumbling over my own feet… Then she smiled, put her hand to my heart and said…"

"Feel the music…"

"Yes, and then… she curtsied… and we waltz, we waltzed like we have been doing it for years…"

"Like you and me, last night."

"Yes… yes… and then…"John's voice falters as he doesn't know how to describe the way they looked at each other.

Gina continues, lost in thought.

"We stop, and you are way to close, your eyes… I couldn't breathe…"

"Thank God Greta started clapping." He says breathlessly. "Then he smiles, remembering Greta's excitement.

Gina notes the smile.

"And you told her, "See? Priests can dance."

"Yes…. Yes…" As John comes back to reality, the smile disappears and is replaced with a look of anxiety…

"It is real, isn't it?" it's really a rhetorical question, so Gina doesn't answer.

She remembers the night, after going to the ball, He was staying in the guest bedroom, as per Stefano's instructions, and as they got home, high on the adrenalin rush of completing their second job together, having acquired the Cezanne, she turned around elated to tell him goodnight. He was so close, and she could smell the bourbon on his breath. He had already removed the beard he wore as "Father John" and she knew what was coming. She could read it in his eyes, and her whole body was waiting for it. And yet, as ready as she was, feeling his lips burning on hers a second later, caught her by surprise. Soon she was clinging to him, her fingers in his hair, and him pushing her against the wall separating the drawing room from the foyer. His tongue was like a drug and it had nothing to do with the cherry cigar he smoked earlier in celebration of their success or the expensive Bourbon. When they pulled apart, to go to separate bedrooms, her body was still burning, her mind still reeling. Poor Hope thinks that she had 'a love affair' with Bo, but she really has no idea what real passion can be….

At the last thought, she is hit with her current situation, and suddenly she feels drained, disappointed, and a little helpless… Will she ever taste it again? She looks up at John who had been watching her closely.

"I have to go." She says, standing up.

"Wait, you remembered something, I know you did…" she hesitates for a second, then shakes her head, and turns to leave. His hand, pulling her back to keep her from leaving is burning on her upper arm.

"Tell me about it…" his voice is pleading.

She wants to get away, this is not an act to keep him hanging, make him chase her. She really feels like reality suddenly caught up to her.

"I can't" she blurts, then pulls free and leaves

* * *

><p>"Stupid, stupid, stupid…" Gina scolds herself, pacing the townhouse basement.<p>

She should've told him, perhaps he would've remembered right then and there… but on the other hand… There is definitely chemistry between them, she knows he can feel it too. Would remembering too soon spoil that, and make it seem like just another memory, something lived long ago? Is it better if they rather make a future, instead of rekindling what they had in the past?

She hears a shuffling sound, and a key in the door. Hurriedly she sits down, and adds some fresh paint to her palette. By the time Stefano enters, she has fresh paint on her brush, and is already blending across the pot she started earlier…

* * *

><p>John is pacing the length of the penthouse living room, wondering for the umpteenth time what, Gina, no Hope were remembering as she sat across from him. What bothers him more than even the passion he saw in the faraway glance of her eyes, is the fact that he has to keep reminding himself that she is Hope. Not Gina!<p>

He goes out onto the balcony, takes a deep breath and tries to sort through his feelings, fear, yet anticipation, curiosity, yet dread, this whole situation has got his feelings completely balled and twisted and raw. He's afraid of knowing the truth, yet he HAS to know, the drive to know the truth, of what Gina meant to him, is stronger than any other feeling, as Marlena arrives, calling his name, his decision is made.

He turns and enters the penthouse. He notices Greta is with her.

"Doc. I need you to hypnotize me again."

Marlena and Greta stares at him in shock. He looks disheveled, lost, confused.


End file.
